Hydrilla is an invasive aquatic plant that has rapidly spread through many inland water bodies across the globe by outcompeting native aquatic plants. The negative impacts of hydrilla invasion have become a concern for water resource management authorities, power companies, and environmental scientists. The early detection of hydrilla infestation is very important to reduce the costs associated with control and removal efforts of this invasive species. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to develop a tool for rapid, frequent, and large-scale monitoring and predicting spatial extent of hydrilla habitat. This was achieved by integrating in situ and Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager satellite data for Lake J. Strom Thurmond, the largest US Army Corps of Engineers lake east of the Mississippi River, located on the border of Georgia and South Carolina border. The predictive model for presence of hydrilla incorporated radiometric and physical measurements, including remote-sensing reflectance, Secchi disk depth (SDD), light-attenuation coefficient (Kd), maximum depth of colonization (Zc), and percentage of light available through the water column (PLW). The model-predicted ideal habitat for hydrilla featured high SDD, Zc, and PLW values, low values of Kd. Monthly analyses based on satellite images showed that hydrilla starts growing in April, reaches peak coverage around October, begins retreating in the following months, and disappears in February. Analysis of physical and meteorological factors (i.e., water temperature, surface runoff, net inflow, precipitation) revealed that these parameters are closely associated with hydrilla extent. Management agencies can use these results not only to plan removal efforts but also to evaluate and adapt their current mitigation efforts.

Background: Observational studies find that family carers of people with dementia who use more emotional support and acceptance-based coping, and less dysfunctional coping, are less depressed and anxious. We hypothesized that interventions effective in reducing psychological symptoms would increase emotional support and acceptance-based coping, or decrease dysfunctional coping.

Methods: We systematically reviewed randomized controlled trials published up to July 2011, of interventions for carers of people with dementia measuring coping and psychological morbidity. We rated study validity and reported findings. We conducted fixed-effect meta-analyses for interventions where possible.

Results: Eight of 433 papers identified by the search met inclusion criteria. All measured coping immediately after intervention. Two interventions significantly decreased depressive or anxiety symptoms: the smaller study found no change in dysfunctional coping. Neither measured emotional support and acceptance-based coping. Meta-analysis found that both group coping skills interventions alone (SMD = −0.39, 95% CI = −0.75 to −0.03, p = 0.04) and with behavioral activation (SMD = −0.26, 95% CI = −0.48 to −0.04, p = 0.02) significantly increased dysfunctional coping, while significantly reducing depressive symptoms. Positive coping (a mix of emotional and solution-focused strategies) increased (SMD = 0.28, 95% CI = 0.05–0.51, p = 0.02) with group coping skills interventions and behavioral activation.

Conclusions: Contrary to our hypothesis, dysfunctional coping increased when carer depressive symptoms improved. There was preliminary evidence that emotional support and acceptance-based coping increased, as positive coping increased although solution-focused coping alone did not. More research is needed to elucidate whether successful interventions work through changing coping strategies immediately and in the longer term.

The primary objective of Angora goat producers is to optimise yields of high quality mohair, characterised by long staples of fine fibres. There is also now an increased interest in the concurrent production of goat meat as an additional source of income. Protein supplementation has been shown to affect mohair yield, quality and liveweight gain in Angora goats both in the USA (Shelton and Huston, 1966) and more recently in the UK (Shahjalal et al., 1991). Throckmorton et al. (1982) detected an improvement in liveweight gain and fibre production when Australian Angoras were fed a supplement high in rumen undegradable protein (UDP) but the effect of protein degradability has not yet been established, particularly under UK conditions. The aim of this trial was to determine the effect of varying protein degradability on yield, staple length and fibre diameter of mohair, and on liveweight gain of British Angora goats.